RAF Appledram/apuldram

RAF Appledram, often rendered Apuldram after the West Sussex hamlet on whose farmland it stood, was a short-lived Advanced Landing Ground a little over two miles south-west of Chichester. Built rapidly in early 1943 on requisitioned fields, it received two cross-laid runways of Sommerfeld tracking and only the most basic facilities, with aircrew and ground crews largely living under canvas. The station opened on 2 June 1943, one of a cluster of temporary fighter strips prepared across the south coast for the coming invasion of Europe.

The first occupants were the Hawker Typhoons of Nos 175, 181 and 182 Squadrons, which tested the new runways and flew ground-attack sorties through June and July 1943. In the spring of 1944 the airfield passed to fighter wings flying Supermarine Spitfires: first the Czechoslovak-manned Nos 310, 312 and 313 Squadrons, and later the Polish Nos 302, 308 and 317 Squadrons. These units, operating under the Second Tactical Air Force, carried out fighter sweeps, bomber escorts and attacks on V-weapon sites, and on 6 June 1944 provided air cover over the Normandy beaches during the D-Day landings.

With the front moving into France, Appledram had no further operational role. It was returned to agriculture in November 1944, and its hangar, runways and dispersals were cleared away early in 1945, leaving the site as farmland.